A wire harness that is installed in an automobile may be required to be highly impermeable to water in a section in which an end of an electric cable and a terminal fitting are connected to each other. In this case, a connector may be realized as a resin molded section for sealing a water-stopping region extending from a part of the terminal fitting to an insulation coating of the electric cable. The waterproofing resin molded section (connector) is referred to as “mold connector”, for example.
The waterproofing connector is made from a synthetic resin that is insert-molded with the water-stopping region of the terminated electric cable used as an insert section. The waterproofing connector is fitted into the frame of a housing in which a device serving as a connection counterpart of the wire harness is housed. Accordingly, the connector fills the gap between the terminated electric cable and the housing. Furthermore, the connector is provided with a ring-shaped rubber seal that is sandwiched between the outer circumferential surface of the connector and the frame that forms an edge of an opening of the housing.
In other words, the waterproofing connector (resin molded section) prevents liquid from entering the connection section of the electric cable and the terminal fitting, and further prevents, in cooperation with the rubber seal, liquid from entering the housing in which the device is housed through the gap between the wire harness and the frame of the housing.
Patent Document 1 discloses that at an end of a terminated electric cable, a water-stopping section that is realized as a resin molded section of a thermoplastic elastomer resin article fills the gap between the electric cable and an electric cable guiding port of a hard connector section (resin molded section) made from a polyethylene-based resin or the like. Patent Document 1 further discloses a rubber seal being attached to the connector.
The connector section (resin molded section) disclosed in Patent Document 1 is formed in a water-stopping region of the terminated electric cable, the water-stopping region including a region extending from a wire connecting section of a terminal fitting to an insulation coating of the electric cable. In a wire harness for use in a vehicle, a wire connecting section of a terminal fitting is connected to an electric cable by being pressed against an end of the electric cable.